


Association

by tigs



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-21
Updated: 2007-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-03 07:03:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigs/pseuds/tigs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam's partner says 'red' and the first thing Sam thinks of is eyes, bloodshot and hollow, sometimes glowing, tracking him through the darkness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Association

Word association, Psych 101.

Sam's partner says 'red' and the first thing Sam thinks of is eyes, bloodshot and hollow, sometimes glowing, tracking him through the darkness. In closets and nightmares and underneath beds. Hiding behind staircases in abandoned cellars, glinting off of 40-year old jars of pickled onions.

He thinks of 18 years spent on the trail of things that go bump in the night. Of rock salt and silver bullets, gunfire, and his father's voice, gruff, urgent: "Goddammit, Sammy, *stay down*." Dean pushing at him, pulling at him, a hand on Sam's neck, holding him there, bruising, his breath harsh in Sam's ear.

He thinks of the smell of sweat and dirt and sulfur. The copper tang of blood. Thick and bright, sluggish and dark.

He thinks of smears and splatters. Gauze, needles and thread.

He thinks about last week when he mended a tear in his shirt (the victim of a nail sticking out of his and Jess's bedroom wall) and how later, when Jess looked at the seam, at the small, tight stitches, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Okay, Winchester. You're better at this than I am. What gives?"

He thinks of her laugh. Of her lips when he kisses her, wide and faintly sticky with lip gloss, her (his) favorite, which tastes of--

"Cherries," Sam says, not conscious of the fact that he's licking his upper lip until he's already done it, and his partner rolls his eyes, saying, "So, I don't think I want to know the story there," and Sam laughs, like he's trained himself to.

He says, "Yeah. No. No story. Really."

Really. Yeah.

End.


End file.
